Getting started with affiliate marketing isn't complicated and in this episode, Adam explains just how easy and beneficial it can be to your business, regardless of industry or market.

Episode Discussions:

• What affiliate marketing is and why it’s important
• How big of an industry is it?
• The appeal of affiliate marketing
• The use of affiliate marketing in your business
• How to get involved

 

(1:29)

The draw of affiliate marketing:

• Involves someone other than you creating something and paying you a commission to sell to someone else
• Passive income generated without the need to create any additional products or services or offers
• Income can be generated around the clock

(2:11)

Who’s involved?

 

1. The Producer

• Initially ends up creating the product or service you're going to be selling.
• Has done much of the work

 

1. The Marketer (you)

• Markets and sells product to end consumer
• The producer pays you a commission.
• The more you sell, the more you make
• Runs with very little additional time, energy or effort.

 

1. The Consumer - The last person involved in the transaction and who ends up ultimately buying what you're selling.

  (4:15) 

Affiliate marketing is mainstream.

 

• Businesses pay others to do their marketing for them and split the profits with them
• Useful monetization strategy for your business
• Accessible to anyone
• Affiliate marketing industry is massive and anticipated to grow to over $6.8 billion over the next 5 years

 

(5:12)

How to get involved in affiliate marketing

• Where many internet marketers got their start
• Many companies have an application process to screen and qualify some of their affiliates
• Portray yourself as a professional
  • Have website, active social media channels, headshots, testimonials, email lists, track record of affiliate success (if possible)
• Small affiliate partners exist who let you try selling their product
  • Enables experience and testing out of industry

(6:33)

• Purchase their product
  • Apply it and get results, inform business you'd like to share their product with the world
  • Demonstrates familiarity and understanding of product to help promote and sell effectively and ethically.

 

(7:14)

Takeaway: Affiliate marketing is selling someone else's stuff for a commission.

To find an affiliate offer, use a search engine: Type in your industry or market and the word "affiliate".

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

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AJ Rivera is a Fitness Business Mentor helping Personal Trainers and studio owners scale their income and impact.

 

In this episode, AJ joins Adam in providing marketing tactics, tips, and tools that are sure to benefit your business, regardless of industry or market.

Episode Discussions:

• Simple email autoresponders
• How to craft an offer
• Direct response marketing
• How you should always sell ethically
• Importance of having higher ticket and higher prices to build your business
• The issue with word-of-mouth marketing

 

1:36

AJ’s Start

-Rented out children’s dance facility

-Gym owner

-Began helping other fitness professionals

 

+"Field of Dreams Syndrome" and "Hope Marketing"

 

5:07

AJ’s advice for all entrepreneurs:

-Be confident in what you're selling.

-Know it's a good quality product

-Turn every bad thing into a good thing

 

"Done is better than perfect." -Dave Rogenmoser

6:28

Word-of-mouth marketing

-Word-of-mouth marketing isn’t a marketing plan

-Counting on other people to bring you business

-People don't design their business for the right amount of shareability

 

8:15

Mistakes, Lessons, and Systems

+The use of "Daily Deals"

 +AJ's marketing funnel

- Have a system for lead acquisition

-"6 Week Fitness Challenge" – created a true marketing campaign

-Upselling customers

-Email autoresponders  

 

"Online tools work as well or better for offline business simply because their competitors aren't' doing it."-Adam

 

14:20

Coaching, consulting & selling

+Used collective advice from mentors.

 

"I remember how impactful the mentors in my life had been.

It changed my whole life. I'm not here right now if it's not for them." -AJ

 

+Enjoyed development from the business side of fitness.

 

+Tools:

-Have a simple email system and offering

-Get familiar with direct response marketing

-Learn how to sell ethically 

 

18:24

+The correlation between higher prices and happier customers (see episode 14)

+Not only do you attract better customers but they get better results.

 

20:07

How to position yourself to raise prices

"You need to sell a program you would be happy your mom bought."

-AJ

23:04

The future of marketing for fitness pros and business owners

-The shift to higher end programs

-Audience building and brand awareness

-Offering true value

-The use of Facebook Live

 

"Everyone is obsessed with leads and sales...you need to build your audience, awareness, and authority"-AJ

  

If you have a fitness business and are looking to take it to the next level,

connect with AJ:

 

• Facebook (best way)
• AJ-Rivera.com
• YouTube

 

 Mentioned in this episode:

• The Power of Pricing – How Higher Prices Lead to Happier Customers – Episode #14
• com

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

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Could not having a marketing funnel be holding back the success of your business?

 

Also known as the Elevation Marketing Process, an effective sales funnel helps generate leads, convert leads into customers and turn customers into brand evangelists.

 

By going through this simple exercise, your business has nothing to do but improve.

Adam explains the true power behind funnels and what makes them effective.

Episode discussions:

• How to apply a simple funnel to your business
• How to pinpoint the weakness in your funnel
• A detailed look into the Modern Marketing Funnel (infographic)
• The steps taken to turn customers into brand evangelists

 

(1:15)

What is a marketing funnel?

-Interchangeable with “sales funnel”, “conversion”, or just “funnel”

-A system that allows you to track the customer journey from having no idea who you are through to becoming a lifelong and loyal customer.

-Uncovers any areas that may be causing issues with the customer journey

 

(2:35)

A funnel provides a graphical representation of something otherwise hard to visualize

Follow customers and better identify:

-Where they’re interacting

- How you can improve engagements with customers

 

(3:12)

Create your own marketing funnel

Modern Marketing Funnel:

1. Traffic: Identify where your leads are coming from
2. Conversion: Get them to take action (micro-commitment)
3. Ascension: Nurture the leads by providing helpful and valuable information
4. Elevation: Follow-up with recent buyers. Solidify your business as one that cares.

 

(6:42)

The power of the funnel

Identify where the problems are and where the opportunity is to improve and optimize your funnel.

1. Traffic: Not getting enough leads
2. Conversion: Not interested in what you’re doing
3. Ascension: Customers who are interested but not buying
4. Elevation: Customers who buy but don’t tell anyone

 

“There’s no hiding a flawed strategy or justifying a bad campaign.

It just is what it is and that is the power of the funnel”

 

(8:39)

Takeaway:

If you don’t have a marketing funnel yet, now is the time to draw it out. Get steps out on paper so you can find areas that could be optimized to greatly improve your business.

If you do have a funnel, use the elevation marketing process.

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

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There are many situations where getting things done quickly can equal productivity and efficiency.  Marketing, however, isn’t one of them.

 

Although the prospect of achieving fast results can be tempting, shortcuts don’t usually come without a price.

In this episode, Adam explains potential penalties of placing your marketing strategy on that glass turntable and pressing “start”.

Episode Discussions:

• 3 costly dangers of microwave marketing
• Shiny Object Syndrome – look away!
• How much time to give your marketing strategy
• Avoid “Killing the Goose”
• The origin of the microwave marketing moniker
• So, long-term or short-term marketing?

 

[1:53] What is microwave marketing?

-Short-term nearsighted strategy to market a business.

-Doesn’t take into consideration the way consumers like to engage with businesses

 

[2:24] The Dangers of Microwave Marketing

 

1. Switching from one thing to another too often and too quickly.

-Make strategic decisions that are based on customers, biz and plans for future.

-Stick with them and give them time to get traction

[3:38]

1. Expecting immediate results

-The origin of the “microwave marketing” moniker

-It takes time for content to build up and become searchable

[5:36]

1. Comes at the expense of long-term results

-No brand awareness or name recognition in industry

-Not seen as authority  

 

[6:47] Solution: Find balance between long and short term marketing.

 

Takeaway:

“Find a mix of microwave marketing and ‘slow cooker’ marketing.

Focus on providing more and more value to your customers.

If you keep that at the core of your marketing, can’t go too wrong.”  

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

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A lot of cynicism exists when it comes to the effectiveness of social media marketing but now that it’s been around long enough, there’s really no denying it’s powerful impact.

Facts, case studies, and statistics show social media is being used by a substantial portion of the population. From a business standpoint, it only makes sense to go where the people are.

 

After listening to this episode, you’ll have reason enough to make social media a key part of your marketing moving into the new year. 

 

Episode discussions:

 

• How to use content calendars
• Useful social media planning tools
• When to use social media
• Is social media really for everyone?
• Why not using social media sends a negative message to your customers
• Humanizing your company

 

Adam breaks down the “who, what, where, when, how, and why’s” of social media marketing.

 

(2:10)

Who:

-Regardless of what business or industry you’re in, there’s a social media platform that was all but designed for you and your business

-There exists a platform that will help:

grow your business, connect with customers and generate more leads.

-Social Media is for everyone.

-Not using is basically essentially showing your business isn’t current, relevant or   relatable to your customers.

 

(3:23)

What:

Which one should you use?

-Comes down to customers. What platforms do they use?

-Find out where your customers are and dedicate making that social media platform a key part of your business.

 

  

(4:35)

Where should you use social media in your business?

-Use it everywhere in your business

-Tell your brand story

-Showcase products and services

-Highlight and spotlight customers

-Give a behind-the-scenes look at how your company works

(hint: it humanizes your brand and shows you’re a real company)

 

(5:33)

When should you use social media?

-Use it regularly and consistently

-Create a content calendar

 

(7:05)

Why do you want to use social media?

“It’ll help your business today but also protect your business tomorrow”

-1/3 of Millennials say that social media is their preferred way of communicating with a business

-It’s everywhere!

-If you ignore it, you’re sending a negative message to your customers

-Find a way to incorporate social media into your business!

 

(7:58)

How is the best way to use social media to better attract, connect, and nurture relationships with customers?

-Be authentic and engaged

-Find what aligns with your brand or business and customers

-Show up – stay active and engaged

-Post valuable content

-Respond to comments and shares as they come up

“You can absolutely start small but you need to start today”

 

(9:50) Show recap

  

 

Mentioned in this episode:

Hootsuite

Sprout Social

 

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

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Dave Rogenmoser is an entrepreneur and digital marketer who has helped successfully build and grow profitable businesses.  He’s made a positive impact on the world of entrepreneurial education through his group and program, The Entrepreneur Alliance.

Listen in on Dave’s story as he shares experiences from his humorous kickoff into entrepreneurialism to the costly overlook that resulted in his biggest business fail.

Please advise: This interview contains extremely valuable information and has been formatted to benefit, educate, and entertain its audience.  

Episode Discussions:

• The importance of a minimum viable product
• The key to having a centralized hub 
• The importance of always leading with value
• How meaty content benefits your website
• How effective Facebook Ads have been to Dave’s business

 

01:47

Interview intro

-Founder of Pivot & scale

-Webinar Bootcamp

-Payfunnels

 

02:47 

Dave's start into the entrepreneurial and marketing journey.

- Started "Eiffel Tower Beer Sales" at the age of 6

-Inspired by: “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, “The Four-Hour Work Week”,

“Think and Grow Rich"

-Launched Fraternity recruitment software

05:32 

Mindshift in Marketing : 

- Mylittlebowbox.com took 6 days from idea to launch

-22 sales from Facebook Ads

+Adam and Dave discuss:

1."Ready Fire Aim" mentality

1. The miracle that is Facebook Ads 

07:49

 How effective Facebook Ads have been to Dave’s clients and business

+The importance of selling 

+Having one channel you're good at 

+Getting the right ad in front of the right person/stranger…

“Facebook is better than anybody else in the world like that” 

09:51 

Marketing lessons learned over the years

-Figure out your minimum viable product is 

-Focus on converting cold traffic with a profitable converting funnel 

-The process for The Entrepreneur Alliance:

-Lead with value using story (delays sale slightly but increases profitability)

-The concept of reciprocity and why it works

16:10 

Building meaty and legit content for website articles

-"Generating leads for us even if the traffic turns off"

-Skyscraper technique

 

18:28 

Biggest Failures, "Growing Broke", and cash flow

-Dave’s experience with webinar funnel course "6k success"

-Adam's rapid expansion with his business

 

21:20

 "There’s a difference between learning how to make money and learning how to build a business" - Dave Rogenmoser

22:17 

Final thoughts and takeaways: 

“If you're yourself and authentic, it works so much better. When I started being more authentic, the right people were really attracted to that.”

“As a marketer, be yourself, take some risks. Be passionate about what you're passionate about and the right people will come to you.”

  

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Entrepreneur Alliance
• Pivot & scale
• Webinar Bootcamp
• Payfunnels
• "Pre-Suasion" - Robert Chaldini -
• “Rich Dad Poor Dad” - Robert Kiyosaki
• “The Four-Hour Work Week” - Timothy Ferriss
• “Think and Grow Rich" – Napoleon Hill
• Backlinko

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

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Simple observation and clear evidence tell a story of a slow and steady evolution that marketing has undergone over the last decade.

Generally, businesses that have incorporated these evolved concepts into their marketing strategy have found them to be profitable…

yet there are still many who haven’t fully embraced these changes.

 

In this episode, Adam goes over quick and simple strategies to help you leverage the new way of marketing in your business and start seeing results as early as later today.

 

Episode Discussions:

• The outdated and ineffective approaches to marketing
• Why and how business flaws can benefit you
• The key to being a winner in a crowded marketplace
• The needs your free content should be fulfilling
• The advantages of paid advertising
• The worst marketing mistake in a consumer-powered world
• Just how much free content you should be providing

 

 

 [02:35] How Marketing has Changed

+Attention spans are shorter than ever (below a goldfish!)

+Consumers have more choice available than ever before - a result of a global economy.

+Massive shift in consumer media consumption: traditional to online and digital

• Up over 100% over the last few years

+More cynical attitude toward big business

• Increasing preference for "humanized" brands and companies over faceless corporations.

Power is shifting away from business and into consumer hands.

 

[07:02] With the consumer holding more power,

forgetting about customer acquisition path is the worst marketing mistake…

+If you neglect the relationship you're trying to build with your customers and focus on your end goal, you won't win long-term. Be a customer-centric business.

 

[07:34] "Businesses win not when they're understood by their consumers, but when their customers feel understood by them." - Nicholas Kusmich

Those who focus on simplicity, providing value, and helping your customers always win.

 

[08:42] 4 Step System - The Super Simple Know, Like, and Trust Funnel

1. Create valuable free content and put it on your website:

+Educates, informs, or entertains

1. Send targeted traffic to the content using paid advertising

+Measurable, trackable, scalable

1. Use retargeting to keep track of customers who engaged with your free content
2. Send a follow-up message to those who viewed your first piece of content

 

• The higher the price of your product, the more free and valuable content you want to send prior to making a sales offer.

+This establishes you as an authority and value provider in your field

+Leverages trigger of reciprocity

 

[12:56] Recap     

Mentioned in this episode:

 

Nicholas Kusmich - website

Episode #7 – The Power of Retargeting and Remarketing

Episode #2 – Free Customer Market Research (Relevance: customer avatar)  

Facebeook Ads

Google Adwords

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

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Too much? Not enough? Just right? Some would favor having a few molars pulled over having to think about what price to put on the tags of their service or product.

Pricing is a topic worthy of controversial chatter and has the tendency to spark some serious debate.

 

Adam breaks down pricing strategies, practices his Latin, and explains why you should put the brakes on pricing too low.  

 

Episode discussion:

 

• 3 different strategies to pricing
• The benefits of value-based pricing
• Adam’s Latin: Ceteris Paribus
• Why focusing on undercutting competition is a race to the bottom
• The world’s worst competitive advantage
• What kind of story your pricing is telling your customers

 

[02:07] 3 Different Ways to Price Products/Services

 

1. Cost-based: prices based on how much it costs
2. Competition-based: prices based on competition

[02:55] The major problem with competition-based pricing

[03:37]

1. Value-based: assigns a number to the value you're providing

-Effectively articulate the value your service is providing

-Focus on the benefits and end results and not just the features of the product

 

04:56 Ceteris Paribus: When everything else is equal...

the defining consumer buying decision will be price.

-The solution is to not let everything else be equal

 

[06:05] Never let price be your businesses primary competitive advantage!

-Destroys your margins

-Destroys ability to properly service your customers

 

"When you start to destroy your prices, you automatically end up having to sell more just to get to where you were before"

[07:26] What your pricing strategy is conveying to your customers

 

• Higher pricing sends a message of higher quality
• If you’re not charging enough, you won't be able to reinvest back into the business or give customers the level of service you want to deliver.
• Higher prices tend to attract higher quality customers

Those who are focused and appreciate the value you're providing.

 

[09:50] Takeaway: Focus on providing value, find some point of marketing differentiation, don't focus on competing on price.

 

 

Mentioned in this episode:

-Modern Marketing episode #4 –Marketing Differentiation

 

Contact Adam: [email protected]

 

Click here to subscribe via iTunes

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No one is responding to your email marketing campaign. 

Nothing you do is leading to more sales.

Your content strategy isn't providing any return on investment. 

 

Whatever the marketing fail, there's almost always a clear and evident solution.

 

Episode discussions:

 

• Who’s most likely to fall victim to an ineffective marketing strategy
• The most important question to ask when it comes to all of your marketing
• When it would be wise to get an outside opinion about your strategy 
• Why your marketing might be failing and what to do about it

 

(02:20) 

Go back to the basics.

-Strategy is always the foundation and most important fundamental element in running a successful marketing campaign.

 

(02:57) The importance of strategy: questions to ask yourself

 

1. Where are your customers?

-Most marketing failures stem from misalignment

-Identify your ideal customer and ensure what you're offering resonates with your customers 

 

(04:15) 

1. Why are you doing what you're doing? Why are you using the strategy you're using right now? 

-Was it based on solid facts about your business, message, and customers?

-Generational businesses are more likely to fall victim to ineffective marketing strategies

 

(05:35)

 Stop – Drop - and Focus 

 

STOP

1. Did you give it enough time?

 

1. Did you give it enough attention and resources?

-There is a point you need to reach for something to be effective. Commit to your marketing in order to get it to work.  

 

(07:55) 

DROP

1. Are some of your campaigns clearly performing better than others?

-Drop the losers and scale the winners. Reallocate more budget toward the winners.

 

1. Get rid of anything that isn’t working and that you can’t justify or remember the strategy behind why you’re using it.

(09:36)

The most important question you should ask when it comes to all of your marketing is "why?"

-Marketing needs to be accountable if you want to grow your business. 

-Listen to episode 9 for more of an in-depth look at analytics and measuring your business! 

09:53 

FOCUS

1. Double down on the 1 or 2 strategies that are most aligned with your business

 

-Work on maximizing those strategies before moving on.

-Get a second/outside opinion. We're often blinded when we're in the trenches of our own business. 

Listen to a high-level overview of how to better communicate your message in Episode # 6 "Secrets to an Effective Online Marketing Strategy". 

 

11:43 Show recap 

 

The 3 Key Ingredients to Creating Sales on Demand

Many types of marketing funnels exist but have the same underlying premise which is taking someone who has no idea who you are and turning them into a customer.

With so many different funnels available, it’s difficult knowing where to begin…

until this episode of the Modern Marketing podcast.

Episode discussions:

• Dealing with "cold audiences"
• The Modern Marketing Funnel
• Tips on website conversion rate optimization
• Ascending traffic up the value chain
• How the Squint Test can save you from losing customers
• Recommended Email autoresponders

[1:33] Customers get labeled by their temperature

-A prospect that doesn't know you exist is a "cold lead"

-Once they know about you, they become a "warm lead"

-When money is exchanged for your product/service: "hot lead"

There are many different marketing funnels available:

AIDA Model:

-Awareness

-Interest

-Desire

-Action

 

Purchase Funnel Model:

-Awareness

-Opinion

-Consideration

-Preference

-Purchase

 

Modern Marketing Funnel:

-Traffic

-Conversion

-Ascension

 

 

[02:33] The Modern Marketing Funnel: 3 Key Ingredients

1. Traffic:

 Get them to your content

Methods: SEO, Facebook ads, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

[04:26]

1. Conversion: get them to take action

Increase number of leads and customers with basic website conversion rate optimization:

+Easy to use and navigate:

[06:04]- does your website pass the “Squint Test”?

             -clear calls to action

             -above the fold

             -designed or optimized for mobile viewing

+Landing pages

+Lead magnet: valuable content in exchange for contact details

 

[09:14]

1. Ascension: turn warm leads into "hot leads"

+Use retargeting (take a refresher course on retargeting in episode 7 )

+Stay top-of-mind with customers

+Email auto-responder sequences: Email is one of the most cost-effective and highest converting tools available

 

[11:48]

Options for Email Autoresponders

-Mailchimp

-Aweber

-Drip (MM recommended)

 

[12:43] Show recap

Mentioned in this episode:

Mailchimp

Aweber

Drip

Which aspect of the funnel would you like to learn more about?

Email me: [email protected] and I’ll be sure to discuss that topic in a future episode!

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Tags: #modernmarketingpodcast #modernmarketingfunnel #websiteconversionrateoptimization #howtocreateamarketingfunnel